Plant for loading and unloading wagons



Sept. 27, 1932. P. GUILBERT ET AL PLANT FOR LOADING AND UNLOADING WAGONSFiled Sept. 12, 1930 s Sheets-Sheet 1 I l l I I I V i l I i rand 52Amrnqg S p 1931 P. GUILBERT ET AL 1,879,203

PLANT FOR LOADING AND UNLOADING WAGON S Filed Sept. 12, 1950 3Sheets-Sheet 2 Sept. 27, 1932 P. GUILBERT ET AL PLANT FOR LOADING ANDUNLOADING WAGONS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Sept. 12, 1930" Patented Sept.27, 1932 a UNITED STATES PATENT OFF-ICE P AUL GUILBERT, OF ROUEN, ANDJ'ULES LEGRAND, OF ST. MANDE, FRANCE PLANT non. LOADING AND UNLOAD I NGWAG ON S Application filed September 12, 1930, Serial 'No. 481,534, andin France December 10, 1929.

Railway companies are always greatly con cerned with the keeping cleanof their ballast, which is the chief condition for the;

proper upkeep of railroad traoks.'- V a lVhen it is desired to haveconstantly clea ballast without being compelled to renew it completelywhich would be very costly, the old ballast is sifted so as to removethe earthy material and the'minute particles produced by the crushing ofthe stones. Thus only those stones are retained the size of which isabove that of the screen mesh chosen. The volume ofballast is completedby adding a certain amount of fresh ballast. y 7 15 This manner ofregenerating the ballast is much cheaper than its simple replacement andconsequently it is much usednowadays. It used to be efl'ected entirelyby hand, but latelyit has been executed mechanically by machines havinga very large output. The sifting however is subject to a very hindersome trouble which consists in the necessity of removing the wastefalling on the sides of the track during the operation ofballastregeneration. Heretofore such waste had to be loaded on a servicetrain passing in front of the yard onthe; moments available between thepassages of the regulartrainsythe loading of the waste being effectedwith shovels. This work is lengthy and requires the formation of aspecialservice train the efiiciency of which is very small and whichmoreover may be a cause of disturbance for the ordinary trains. v l iThe mechanical sifting methods which increase the speed of'progress ofthe yards along the railroad track have simultaneously increased thevolume of waste to be removed efiiciency ballastremoving vehicleprovided or not with sifting means.

ment between each two successive trucks.

whereby the operation has become more and In appended drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side view of a part of the whole arrangement.

Fig. 1A is "a similar view and a continuation of Fig. 1; i v

Fig. 2 is an end View thereof. p 1

Fig. 3 is a side view showing the truckunloading means inoperation. 1

v Fig. 4 is an end View thereof, 7 Figs.) 5 and 6 are respectively aside view and an end view ofa modification of said means. Referring toFigs. 1 and 2, the waste produced by the sifting operation are raised bythe conveyor 64 from. the ballast removing vehicle and fall into ahopper 7) carried by the frame d supported by the truck 0. To thelongitudinal sidesof the truck are secured two rails ee on which acarriage f carryinga hopper g is adapted to run. This carriage at f-isself propelling through the agency of a motor k and of suitabletransmissions. It may run over the rails 'e-e not only on the truck abut also on the adjacent truck 2 and the following trucks which are allprovided with the same rail arrangement along their sides, the railsforming a continuous track from one end of the train tothe other owingto the interposition of a pivotedlink arrange- The arrangementcomprising the hoppers, carriages and rails therefor is adapted to passinside the gauge y of goods-carriage for the track along which thetrucks move.

The-workingis as follows; v

The hopper I) being full, its bottom Z is opened and the contents fallinto the hopper g. The bottom Zis then closed again, the carriage f iscaused to start so as to'bring the hopper g to point 9 for instanceonthe 01- 9 lowing truck 2. There its bottom m is opened and itscontents fall into the ballast-truck 2 after which the hopper g isreturned with its carriage f underneath the hopper b which has beenfilled again during the transportation unloading and return'of thehopper 91 Its bottom Z is again opened and operations begin over againwhereby it is'possible to fill insuccessively; all th] truck-s disposedbehind or one anotherp z I This arrangement may be provided to the rearof a ballast-distributing truck provided or not with sifting means, theworking being obviously similar in both cases. It may be used also forremoving clay from the track platform or for making it deeper andgenerally speaking in all cases where material of any kind producedforinstance by earthwork or the like is to be removed and loaded on trucksdisposed on or moving along the railroad. r

After such material has been loaded as explained on trucks such as 2through the agency of the above described loading system, the truckshave tobe emptied. In or dinary earthwork yards, the problem ofunloadingearth or material loaded on trucks is generally solved eitherby unloading the trucks with shovels or .by using tip ing wagons. Selfunloading hopper cars which are of interest in certain particular casesare not adapted for unloading earth in embanking because their contentsfall too near the track. As, on the other hand, it is diflicult toprovide tipping means :for. large-sized standard gauge trucks, it isnecessary in most cases to unload the trucks with shovels which isobviously costly and immobilizes a considerable number of trucks owingto the length of'operation. The unloading is particularly diflicult inthe case of ballast trucks with high rims and when it is desired tounload thematerial at any point of the railroad which is the case forinstance for the Waste from ballast-sifting which waste is generallythrown out on the embankment near the place of sifting so as to avoidany long transportation.

These drawbacks which would considerably reduce the interest of thedirect loading arrangement which is one of the features of our inventionas described may be removed by the unloading means which form acomplementary feature thereof. Referring to Figs. 8 and 4: theseunloading means are carried by aframe j running over the rails e esecured to the sides ofthe tracks as explained hereinabove whereby saidframe maypass from one truck tothe next.

Thus only one frame is required for the whole train of similarlyequipped trucks. 7

The frame j carries an arrangement of chains 0 and buckets carried by apivoting support 70 held through the crane w and the cables 10 Thesupport maybe raised into the position 70 higher than the truck rim whenthe frame is topass from one truck on to the next. I

The chains '0 are driven from a shaft p to which are keyed centralbosses p similar to those used on excavators. In the machineillustrated, there are three chains used carrying two 'sets of buckets1" 13 adapted to remove the material throughout the width of the truck.Of course, the number of chains the band conveyor 8, which runstransversally with reference to the track and moves with a speedsufficient for projecting the material on to the desired spot.

All the movements of the arrangement such as the control of the bucketconveyor, the raising of its pivoting support, the con- ,trol of thetransverse conveyor, the progress ofthe carriage are. obtained throughone or more motors of any descrlption of the gasoline, electric or anyother type, the control being effected through a plurality, of partsacted upon by the machinist.

The whole arrangement is such that it riage'g for the track on which thetruck runs. 7 1 V Under such conditions the train arriving at the pointwhere the earth or the like is to be unloaded, the pivoting supportbeing in its position 70, the apparatus is started. The

buckets are filled as they pass through 14 and empty their contents overthe conveyor 8, which projects the material at the desired point u Theautomatic advance motion of the frame in the direction n ensures anexcellent filling of the buckets. When the frame arrives over point 9the truck is empty. The pivoting support is raised into its posi-. tionand the frame jis moved over the next truck .2, where operation isresumed.

Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate a modification of this. device. Instead ofusing buckets digging afterthe manner of excavators, we may prise moreor else only one the width of which is smaller than that of'the truckthe whole width of which is swept in this case owing to a transversalmotion of the bucket chain.

In the last modification shown, -.all the movements are controlledmechanically.

Our invention covers also the method of working corresponding to the useof the above described truck equipments.

What we claim is: i

passes entirely inside the gauge of goods can 9 1. A truck equipment forthe handling of waste produced by ballast-screening or the likecomprising a truck, a hopper secured over same, a movable bottom forsaid hopper, means for loading the hopper, rails carried along the sidesof the truck, a carriage adapted to run over said rails, a second hop- 7per carried by said carriage and adapted to pass underneath the firsthopper, a removable bottom' for the second hopper and means forunloading the truck. 7

2. A truckequipment for the handling of Waste produced by ballastscreening or the like comprising a series of successive trucks, a.hopper secured over one of said trucks, a movable bottom for saidhopper, means for loading the hopper, rails carried along the sides ofthe trucks, a carriage adapted to run over said rails, a second hoppercarried by said carriage and adapted to pass underneath the firsthopper, a removable bottom for said second hopper, means between therails of the successive trucks whereby the carriage may pass thereover,and means for unloading the trucks. Y 7

3. A truck equipment for the handlingof waste produced by ballastscreening or the like comprising, a series of successive trucks, ahopper secured over one of said trucks, a movable bottom for saidhopper, means for loading the hopper, rails carried along the sides ofthe trucks, a carriage adapted to run over said rails, a second hoppercarried by said carriage and adapted to pass underneath the firsthopper, a removable bottom for the second hopper, a pivoted link betweenthe rails of the successive'trucks and movable to a position forinterconnecting said rails of the successive trucks whereby the carriagemay'pass thereover, and means forunloadmg the trucks.

In Witness whereof We-ha-ve hereunto set our hands.

PAUL GUILBERT. JULES LEGRAND.

